174 THE EFFECTS OF GEOGRAPHIC ENVIRONMENT 



point yet reached, which must have had its beginning ten thou- 

 sand years ago. 



When we remember the wonderful cities that flourished in this 

 valle}'', its great population and high civilization, and reflect that 

 this civilization continued from five to six thousand j^ears — sev- 

 eral thousand years longer than our own civilization; when we 

 remember that certain portions of the valley are low, often inun- 

 dated ; that in summer the climate is hot and unhealthy ; that 

 the government was a despotism and the people slaves ; that 

 there was a great inequality between the upper and lower classes ; 

 civilization, refinement, and luxury in the upper classes and 

 degradation in the lower classes, when we reflect that these con- 

 ditions continued thousands of years, our interest in the people 

 and country which produced such i-esults must ever increase. 



During the wars that often laid waste the valley the inhabit- 

 ants were sometimes conquered and driven from their homes, far 

 to the north and west. Many crossed the ^Egean into Greece 

 and carried to Greece and through it to Europe the civilization 

 of the Orient. By this means Europe gradually passed from the 

 Iron Age to the civilization of the present. 



It is asked why, with the same geographic environment as 

 in the days of Nineveh and Babylon, Mesopotamia, once the 

 garden of the world, should have become a desert. We must 

 again look to its environment. On the easterly and northerly 

 sides of the valley, living among the mountains, were powerful and 

 warlike tribes. These tribes, tempted by the wealth of the cities 

 of the plain, made frequent inroads, killing its inhabitants. If 

 the ruler was strong and powerful, they were driven back to 

 their mountains. If he was weak, his government was over- 

 thrown ; the mountain tribes took possession of the valley, kill- 

 ing the inhabitants, and sometimes destroying the cities and 

 forming a new dynasty. Thus in different ages the Sumarians, 

 the Chaldeans, Babylonians, Assyrians, Elamites, Hittites, Scy- 

 thians, Parthians, Medes, and Persians under Cyrus ; Greeks 

 under Alexander, and Romans under Ptolemy conquered and 

 plundered the valley. It was afterwards conquered by the 

 Mongolians, and five hundred years ago it fell into the merciless 

 and destroying hands of the Turk ; for five centuries has been 

 pillaged by its governors and officers ; the taxes raised beyond 

 the power of the people to pay, the water shut off from the 

 land, the irrigating canals closed, the land laid waste, and 

 famine and desolation followed. The sands from the desert 



